Applications & Markets
Construction & Demolition (C&D) Recycling Systems
Heavy-duty sorting lines that turn mixed C&D debris into salable wood, aggregate, metal, and fiber products — engineered around your material, tonnage, and building.
Sherbrooke OEM designs, manufactures, and integrates complete construction & demolition (C&D) recycling systems. A typical line combines steel-pan apron infeed, a coarse primary screen with a manual sort line on the oversize, magnetic separation, secondary trommel or dual-deck flip-flow screening, de-stoners producing hand-verified clean aggregate, fluff knives and Eagle Vizion optical sorters for the light fraction, and late-positioned eddy current separators for non-ferrous recovery. Every cut point and capacity is engineered per project from the material composition, throughput, and product markets. Systems are fabricated in Sherbrooke, Quebec and installed across Canada and the United States.
How a C&D Line Works
- Infeed & primary stage. The whole stream is fed by excavator or loader — directly into the loading zone or via apron conveyor — onto a coarse primary screen. (A primary shredder can take this stage's place: the entire stream is shredded instead, leaving no oversize, at the cost of more fines and higher maintenance.)
- Oversize to manual sort. On screen lines, the overs run to an elevated A-line where sorters recover wood, metal, rigid plastics, cardboard, and any other recoverable material by hand — material that size is not handled mechanically.
- Ferrous removal. The primary unders pass a magnet — overhead self-cleaning or drum magnet — before any further processing.
- Secondary screening. A trommel makes a single mid cut, or a dual-deck screen — hard top deck over a flip-flow bottom deck — delivers fines, mids, and overs in one machine. Cut points are engineered per project.
- Aggregate recovery. The mids pass a de-stoner: clean aggregate drops out — clean enough that one QC picker covers a 150–200 TPH system — while the lights continue.
- Lights cleanup & recovery. A fluff knife can pull an ultralight fraction (film, shingle debris) ahead of recovery; wood is picked manually or recovered by optical sorter (grades 1 and 2, together or separately); an eddy current placed here — where the burden is lightest — recovers non-ferrous metals while protecting its rotor.
- Fines line. The fines cut — made by the dual-deck secondary, or by a dedicated fines screen on trommel lines — drops the true fines; the remaining small mids run a magnet then a de-stoner to recover small aggregate. Recovering aggregate from this fraction often makes or breaks project economics. Sorted fractions report to bunkers for load-out.
Key Equipment in C&D Systems
Z-Pan & Combo-Belt Apron Conveyors
Impact-resistant steel-pan infeed for excavator- or loader-fed primary material.
Primary & Secondary Screens
Coarse primary cut plus trommel or dual-deck flip-flow secondary — cut points engineered per project.
De-Stoners
Clean aggregate recovery from the screened mid fractions.
Magnets & Eddy Current
Ferrous off the primary unders; eddy current positioned late to protect the rotor.
Fluff Knife & Eagle Vizion Optical
Ultralights removal and grade 1 / grade 2 wood recovery from the light fraction.
Picking Stations & Bunkers
Manual A-line and QC platforms; storage for sorted fractions.
C&D Recycling — Frequently Asked Questions
What equipment does a C&D recycling line typically include?
A typical C&D line includes a coarse primary screen (fed by excavator or loader, directly or via steel apron conveyor), an elevated manual sort line for the oversize, magnets for ferrous, a secondary screen — trommel or dual-deck flip-flow — splitting the stream into fines, mids, and overs, de-stoners producing clean aggregate from the mid fractions, a fluff knife or optical sorter to clean and recover the light fraction (wood, plastics), an eddy current separator positioned late in the line for non-ferrous, and storage bunkers for sorted products. Cut points and capacities are engineered per project around the material and the products.
Why is the oversize from the primary screen sorted by hand?
Material above the primary cut — dimensional lumber, large rigid plastics, pipe, sheet steel — is too big to handle mechanically with screens or sorters. It reports to an elevated picking line where sorters recover it by hand. The alternative is to replace the primary screen entirely with a primary shredder, which makes the whole stream machine-sortable but increases fines generation and carries a higher maintenance cost.
How is clean aggregate recovered from C&D debris?
In two stages. The secondary screen splits the stream into fines, mids, and overs; the mid fraction passes a de-stoner that drops aggregate out of the lighter material, followed by a manual quality check — the de-stoner output is clean enough that one picker can cover aggregate QC for a 150–200 TPH system. The fines fraction is cut again — in the same machine on a dual-deck secondary, or on a dedicated fines screen after a trommel — and its mids run a magnet and a second de-stoner to recover small aggregate.
Why is the eddy current separator placed late in a C&D line?
An eddy current separator is a comparatively fragile machine. Placing it after screening, density separation, and lights cleanup means it sees a reduced, more predictable burden, which protects the rotor and improves non-ferrous recovery. Putting an eddy current early in a C&D line exposes it to heavy, sharp material and shortens its life.
Should a C&D line use a primary shredder?
It is a trade-off, and most lines use a primary screen. A shredder can replace the primary screening stage entirely: the whole stream becomes small enough for autonomous mechanical processing — optical sorters, de-stoners, and screens handle everything with no manual oversize line. The costs are increased fines generation and significantly higher maintenance. The right answer depends on labour availability, tonnage, and the products you sell.
Processing C&D debris, or planning to?
Send us your material profile and target throughput — our engineering team will propose a system layout and recovery strategy. Engineered and manufactured in Sherbrooke, QC, serving Canada and the United States.
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